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SPEECH 

OF 

R. CLEMENS, OF ALABAMA, 

IN THE SENATE OP THE UNITED STATES, DEC. 10, 1851, 
ON THE RESOLUTION OP MR. SEWARD RELATIVE TO LOUIS KOSSUTH. 




Mr. CLEMENS said: 

Mr. President: 1 regret very sincerely that this resolution was introduced. 
It is painful to do anything seemingly discourteous; and as I must oppose the 
adoption of this and all similar resolutions, I should greatly have preferred that 
the especial champions of Louis Kossuth had heen content to leave him in the 
hands of the people, without attempting to commit the Government to any of 
his schemes for revolutionizing Europe. 

I have listened, Mr. President, with great attention to all that has been said 
in this debate, and if I have been convinced of nothing else, I am at least satis- 
fied that the resolution on your table furnishes a most excellent subject for 
speech-making. It possesses the peculiar advantage, that the less we know 
about it, the better we can talk upon it. We may then give free reins to the 
imagination, and fancy can supply all that is needed to give beauty to a sen- 
tence or symmetry to the whole discourse. A great man bent, but not broken 
by misfortune; an exile pleading the cause of his bleeding country; a gallant 
people, struggling for freedom against overwhelming odds, overpowered, crushed 
for a time, but only waiting for a ray of hope, a word of sympathy, to rise 
again upon their oppressors: all these are themes upon which even a dull man 
might grow eloquent. The misfortune is, that so much of it is fancy; so little 
\sfact. ^understand* the friends of Kossuth to base his claims to a public recep- 
tion by Congress, partly upon the assumed fact that he is a republican in prin- 
ciple, and has been the great disseminator of republican sentiments throughout 
Europe; and I have heard, I must confess with some regret, that he was # 
expected to liberalize, still more the already liberal ideas prevailing upon this 
continent. In other words, that he is to give lessons to the descendants of the 
patriots of '76, and teach this benighted land the rudiments of civil liberty. Sir, 
I think it well enough to inquire, before we enter his school, when he became a 
republican ? If I have read the history of that struggle aright, it was not until 
defeat and misfortune had overtaken him. In the zenith of his power — in the 
pride of his high place as Dictator of Hungary, he saw no beauty in universal 
equality, and knelt at no altar erected to freedom. The contest in which he 
was engaged was not a contest between despotism and republicanism. It was 
a war of races. Kossuth and his associates were the oppressors, not the op- 
pressed. So far from rebelling against the Emperor of Austria, they petitioned 
him, in the humblest terms, not for liberty, not for the security of their own 
rights, but for aid to enable them to keep another people in subjection. I have 
that petition before me. A short extract from it will enable the Senate to 






determine how far the Magyars at that day deserved the character of republi- 
cans: 

From a Memorial presented to the Archduke by Kossuth and the Hungarian Ministry, July 4th, 1843. 

" If his highness the Archduke John will bestow a careful attention upon all that we have 
just said, he cannot but be convinced of the true character of the rebellion of those States, which 
make great pretensions of fidelity to the Sovereign, whilst violating the royal authority, he cannot 
but perceive that even their offer of joining Austria is merely a feigned pretext, in order to 
give at the crisis of the struggle such a superiority to the Sclavish element in Austria that, 
after thus completely paralyzing the German element, and undermining the Austrian throne, 
the empire shall be split up into independent Sclavish kingdoms, and the very existence of the 
Austrian Imperial House shall be thus buried. 

"And yet loyalty and attachment to the King is so deeply rooted in the heart of the Hungarian 
nation, that the Illyrian rebels are well aware, thai in openly exhibiting their intentions, they will not 
meet any sympathy. They have therefore come forward in the spirit of reaction, as the pseudo- 
heroes of the royal authority, and against the Hungarian nation, who have not attacked the 
royal power, for whom a legal independence and a constitutional administration is not a recent 
grant, but an ancient right, sanctioned by innumerable royal oaths — against the Hungarian 
nation, which at this present moment, when almost every throne in civilized Europe is tottering, 
remains not only the firmest, but the only firm prop of the Austrian throne. This feeling and this 
experience have led us to request the kind assistance of his Highness the Archduke John with respect 
to the Illyrian rebellion." 

* * # # *.# * * * # # # 

" The disloyal rebels actually boast of the support of the offended ruling House itself! And 
when we requested his Majesty, in order to enlighten the unhappy and deceived people, by his 
own handwriting, to let the people know that his Majesty disapproves of the Rebellion, and is 
determined to maintain, in all their integrity, the solemnly affirmed inviolability of the Hungarian 
Crown and the authority of the laws, the leaders of the rebels deceived the people by declaring 
that this has not been done voluntarily on the part of his Majesty, but that it is merely an 
unwilling expression, extorted by the Hungarian Ministry, through means of compulsion." 

The Illyrian rebels, against whom Kossuth so humbly petitioned the aid of 
the King, had demanded, and were struggling to obtain, some small portion of 
the natural rights of man, and the war which-finally ended in the subjugation of 
Hungary was begun by the Magyars to keep the Sclavonian race in subjection — 
a people every way their equals, and who, if we are to judge from the different 
character of the petitions presented by them, seem to me to have been far better 
entitled to the sympathies of a free people than Kossuth and his associates. 

I have read the petition of the Magyars; let me now call the attention of the 
Senate to that of their antagonists: 

" Emperor, if you reject our prayers, we shall know how to vindicate our liberty without you ; 
and we prefer to die heroically, like a Sclavonian people, rather than to bear any longer *nch 
a yoke as is imposed upon us by an Asiatic horde, from whom we have nothing good to receive 
or to learn. Emperor, know that we prefer, if we must choose between them, the knout of the 
Russians to the insolence of the Magyars. We will not, on any terms, belong to the Magyars. 
Remember, that if Croatia forms but a thirty-fifth part of your empire, the Croatians constitute 
a third of your whole infantry." 

Sir, the men who uttered such sentiments deserved to be free. They are 
words fit to he spoken by freemen, and I must be excused if I cannot feel any 
extraordinary enthusiasm in the cause of a man who sought to hold them in 
bondage. The question with me is, not whether he preaches freedom and 
equality now, when he is a wanderer and an exile, but rather what was his 
practice when power was in his hands, and when to have surrendered that power 
would have been indeed a merit worthy of a world's admiration. The task of 
tracing the history of that period affords me no pleasure; but when I am called 
upon, as the representative of a sovereign State, to aid in conferring on any 
individual an extraordinary honor, it is my duty to ascertain how far that honor 
is deserved. What, then, was his course during the whole progress of the 
memorable struggle in which he was engaged? Did he ever at any time give 
utterance to a republican sentiment? On the contrary, was not his whole 
course that cf a determined and haughty oppressor ? When the demands of the 



Sclavonians were rejected by the House of Austria, and they proposed to join 
iheir forces to his, upon the sole condition that he should guaranty them equal 
rights and equal privileges, his reply was as haughty and imperious as any ever 
uttered by the most absolute despot to the humblest slave: 

"There are three principles which must prove as a basis to any conciliation, and in regard to 
which WE SHALL CONCEDE NOTHING, ON ANY CONDITION WHATEVER, 
for it would amount to committing suicide with our own hands: 
><" 1st. The unity of the State. 

"2d. The integrity of the territory of the State as it has existed for centuries. 

"3d. THE SUPREMACY OF THE MAGYAR ELEMENT, acquired one thousand 
years ago by the armed hand, the foundation of our autonomy, and consecrated by the use of 
the Magyar as the diplomatic language." 

This was on the 10th of June, 1849, only two months before the armies of 
Hungary were annihilated — Gorgy a prisoner and Kossuth a fugitive in the 
dominions of the Turk. Even at that late moment the supremacy of the Magyar 
element was announced as an indispensable basis of any conciliation ; and it 
thus becomes apparent that the right to enslave others rather than the right to 
be free themselves, constituted the main object of the war. The supremacy 
of the Magyar element was the leading idea, and much of the sympathy and 
enthusiasm which the advent of Kossuth has excited in this republican land 
might well have been reserved for worthier objects. I expect to be told, that 
whatever may have been his former sentiments he is now a republican in feeling 
and principle. Indeed the Senator from Massachusetts has already informed 
us that he has dared to utter such sentiments within the shadow of the throne 
of England. I have not so read his speeches. I have read a great deal in 
praise of the British constitution — nothing against the hereditary King and the 
hereditary Nobility which disgrace it. British freedom is not freedom, as we 
understand it, and praises of the British constitution do not furnish the highest 
evidence of a clear conception of the principles of civil liberty. At all events, 
if we concede all that is claimed for him now, we must still bear in mind that 
he is only a recent convert. As long as there was a hope of his maintaining 
an iron rule over a people far more numerous than his own, republicanism never 
entered his thoughts. There is not a solitary paper emanating from him or 
his associates during the continuance of the war which does not establish 
clearly and conclusively that no one of them ever dreamed of the formation of 
a republic. The language of Count Pulzsky is too explicit to leave a doubt 
upon this point: 

"The most current misrep-esentation of the Hungarians is, that they are Republicans, and 
that they have proclaimed the Republic in such of the Hungarian counties as are in their power, 
which now comprise almost all the Hungarian territory. This assertion is often unwarily 
reechoed by the friends of the Hungarians, who, considering that the Queen of England main- 
tains amicable relations with the Republic of the United States, with the Republic of France, 
and the Republic of Switzerland, are not altogether horrified at the Republican appellation. 
But the real state of the matter is, that the Hungarians ARE NOT REPUBLICANS, and 
that the Republic has not been proclaimed anywhere in Hungary." 

There is more, much more, to the same effect, but it is not needful for me 
to refer to it. As an individual, I am willing to concede to Kossuth whatever 
of merit he can justly claim ; but I am not willing to say by my vote, or 
otherwise, that I regard him as a purer patriot than Washington — a greater 
statesman than Jefferson, or a more skillful General than Jackson. There are 
living men now within the limits of this city whom I look upon as altogether 
his superiors. I am not one of those to whose vision it is said " distance lends 
enchantment." I respect rather that greatness which is near me — which I do 
not have to take upon the uncertain reports of others. If the nearness of the 
object should disclose infirmities — if dark spots or weak points should be 



revealed by it, I can still revere what is good and appreciate what is great, 
without looking for a perfection which is denied to man. I can kneel among 
the rank weeds at the base of a lofty mountain and worship the grandeur of 
the Almighty's work, without remembering the petty or the worthless things 
around me. 

One of the most serious mistakes which has crept into this discussion, is the 
confident assumption that Kossuth is " the invited guest of the Nation." I 
deny it, broadly and explicitly. If he ever read the resolution under which 
he came, he could not possibly have so understood it. That resolution 
was carefully and deliberately drawn by the Senator from Mississippi, [Mr. 
Foote,] whose knowledge of language is familiar to us all, and who, we all 
know, is not addicted to the use of words the full import of which he does not 
understand. It is in these words : 

A Resolution for the relief of Louis Kossuth and his Associates, Exiles from Hungary. 

Whereas the people of the United States sincerely sympathize with the Hungarian exiles, 
Kossuth and his associates, and fully appreciate the magnanimous conduct of the Turkish 
Government, in receiving and treating these noble exiles with kindness and hospitality; and, if 
it be the wish of these exiles to emigrate to the United States, and the will of the Sultan to> 
permit them to leave his dominions: Therefore, 

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Con- 
gress assembled, That the President of the United States be and he hereby is requested to author- 
ize the employment of some one of the public vessels which may now be cruising in the 
Mediterranean, to receive and convey to the United States the said Louis Kossuth and his 
associates in captivity. 

I need not say in this Senate, that it is impossible to construe the word 
'•'emigrate" into " guest." All that the resolution says, all that it meant to 
say, is, that if he and his associates chose to come here as settlers — if they 
chose to seek an asylum here, we would furnish them with the means of trans- 
portation. I am willing to admit further, that by the passage of that resolution 
we tacitly pledged ourselves to provide them homes when they did come; but 
certainly no ingenuity can give to it a broader construction than that. He was 
not invited as a guest. He was not invited at all; but simply informed that if 
he desired to come among us as an emigrant, the means of reaching our shores 
would be placed at his disposal. 

Mr. Foote. Did the Senator read the whole resolution ? 

Mr. Clemens. The preamble is the important part, but the Senator can 
have both. [Mr. C. then read the resolution, as given above.] 

It will be observed, that the resolution refers not to Kossuth alone, but "his 
associates" are connected with him throughout. If he is our guest, they 
are equally so, and entitled to an equally honorable reception. Further, 
the resolution does not authorize the President to send a national vessel spe- 
cially for them, but simply to direct their reception on board of one that might 
be at the time cruising in the vicinity. 

Mr. Foote. That is all we intended. 

Mr. Clemens. Certainly. So I understood then, and understand now. 

I do not know, Mr. President, that it is expected in any quarter to make 
political capital out of the movements which preceded and accompanied the 
landing of the Hungarian Governor, and certainly I attribute no such purpose 
to the Senator from Mississippi; but I have heard a great deal of that "swelling 
tide of public sympathy," which we are warned not to disregard. We have 
been told that the people have received Kossuth, and Congress dure not turn 
their backs upon him. I propose neither to turn my back nor my face upon 
him. I propose to leave him in the hands of the people. If they choose to 



get up pageants in his honor; if they choose to carry him in procession from 
city to city and village to village, it is no concern of mine, and I shall not inter- 
fere with so harmless an amusement. But it is a different matter when the 
Senate of the United States is asked to take part in it. I have been able to 
find nothing in the history of this man — nothing in his whole career, which 
demands such an honor at our hands. If it is a mere political speculation, it is 
so much the more to be reprobated. We are not altogether without example 
in our own land, to which it may be instructive to refer. Not many years 
since there was a struggle for freedom on the southwestern border of the 
Republic — a struggle which finally brought an empire into the Union. When 
the successiul hero of that revolution landed upon our shores, not as a fugitive, 
but crowned with the wreaths of victory, who ever dreamed of inviting him 
here to receive the homage of Congress? Sir, he was bone of our bone, and 
flesh of our flesh. He had shed his best blood in his youth, in defence of our 
land. In riper years, he had accomplished a successful revolution, redeemed a 
people from bondage, and brought an empire to lay at our feet ; but for him 
there was no Congressional homage — no resolution of welcome. Sir, I am 
afraid that we are sometimes inclined to overlook the merits of our own kin- 
dred, and unduly exalt those who have less claim upon our sympathies. We 
can intercede with Turkey for the Hungarian — with France for the Arab — 
with England for the Irishman ; but not a word is spoken here of the fifty sons 
of America who were murdered in Cuba. We hear nothing of national vessels 
sent to the coast of Africa to redeem from bondage our o«n citizens, banished 
to this inhospitable shore, for no sin but that of loving liberty well enough to 
fight for it in another land than our own. 

Mr. President, I have yet another and a graver objection than any yet urged 
to the passage of this resolution. Since the landing of Kossuth in England, 
evidence has been piled upon evidence that he seeks this land for political pur- 
poses — that he comes not as an emigrant, but as an agitator. I know the Sen- 
ator from Mississippi has denied that the speeches of Kossuth will bear this 
interpretation. That Senator surely could not have read those speeches with his 
usual care and attention. I read from Kossuth's London speech : 

" When I declared, — 'Let not remain barren your sympathy; help us to carry that noble 
cause to a happy issue; you have the power, so help,' — when I spoke that, I intended not to ask 
England to take up arms for the restoration of Hungary to independence and liberty. No, 
gentlemen, that is the affair of Hungary itself; we will provide for our own freedom. (Hear, 
hear.) All I wish is, that the public opinion of England may establish it to be a ruling princi- 
ple of the politics of Europe to acknowledge the right of every nation to dispose of its own in- 
ternal concerns, and not to give a charter to the Czar to dispose of the fate of nations — (cheers), 
and so not to allow the interference of Prussia in the domestic concerns either of Hungary, or of 
whatever other nations on the continent — (hear, hear,) because the principles of freedom are in 
harmony, and I love — I am interested in — the freedom of all other countries as well as of my 
own. (Hear, hear.) My lord and gentlemen, these are the words which I again and again 
will repeat here in England, and there in the United States, from a most honored member of 
which 1 have had the honor to hear principles which quite once carried into effect, would and 
will give liberty to the world. I have heard it proclaimed from an honored citizen of the Uni- 
ted States, the honored object of the sympathy, and confidence of a great part of his country- 
men, even a candidate to become the Chief Magistrate of the United States — I have heard, in 
answer t>> my appeal, declare that he believes'the younger brother of the English race very 
heartily will give his hand to England to protect the oppressed nations not admitting interfer- 
ence with their domestic affairs." 

Mr. Foote. I will ask from what paper the Senator is reading? 

Mr. Clemens. The New York Courier and Enquirer. I shall read 
something stronger from other papers directly. Now, sir, it was not in London 
only, but everywhere in England, and since his arrival here, he has proclaimed 
himself a political missionary. His avowed object is to induce England and 



6 

the United States to combine for the purpose of preventing Russian interfer- 
ence with the affairs of Europe. That is, we are to prevent Russia from 
interfering by interfering ourselves. We are to abandon the policy of Wash- 
ington and his successors — forget all the lessons they have transmitted to us, 
and erect the United States into a kind of general guardian for the nations of 
Europe. I know he speaks of assuming a threatening attitude merely, and 
predicts that will be sufficient to overawe the Emperor of Russia. But sup- 
pose he should be mistaken in that prediction : we would then be fully com- 
mitted to war. If he possesses one tithe of the foresight which has been 
ascribed to him, he must be aware that an interference begun by threats must be 
ended by cannon-balls and bayonets. It is childish to talk of trammeling the 
action of Russia by threats uttered on this side of the Atlantic. She would 
laugh your threats to scorn. She would tell you that you have enough to do 
to manage your own concerns at home, without traveling beyond the Atlantic 
to interfere with the concerns of other nations. She would tell you to be 
careful that in traversing the world to give liberty to other nations, you did not 
lose your own. She would remind you that but recently a bitter sectional 
strife was raging in your midst, which threatened at one time to shatter your 
Confederacy into atoms — that the embers of that strife were still unquenched, 
and that it was the part of wisdom to secure internal peace before you engaged 
in external war; that when you had removed all the causes of bitterness at 
home — when you had fully cemented your own empire — it would then be 
time enough to say that the paw of the Russian bear should be planted on no 
soil without your consent. Such, sir, would be the answer of Russia, and such 
the answer we should deserve. To indulge in the use of threats towards 
Russia is either to cover ourselves with ridicule, or involve the country in war; 
and that, indeed, is the true purpose of Kossuth. Scarcely veiled in England, 
it has been almost openly proclaimed in America. Here is his New York 
speech: 

"Then what is the motive of my being here at this very time? The motive, citizens, is that 
your generous act of my liberation has raised the conviction throughout the world that this 
generous act of yours is but the manifestation of your resolution to throw your weight into the 
balance where the fate of the European continent is to be weighed. You have raised the con- 
viction throughout the world, that by my liberation you were willing to say, ' Ye oppressed 
nations of old Europe's continent, be of good cheer, the young giant of America stretches his 
powerful arm over the waves, ready to give a brother's hand to your future ' So is your act 
interpreted throughout the world. ###### # 

AVhat is the source of this apparition unparalleled in mankind's history? The source of it is, 
that your generous act of my liberation is taken by the world for the revelation of the fact that 
the United States are resolved not to allow the despots of the world to trample on oppressed hu- 
manity. It is hence that my liberation was cheered, from Sweeden down to Portugal, as a ray 
of hope. It is hence that even these nations which most desire my presence in Europe now, 
have unanimously told me, ' Hasten on, hasten on to the great, free, rich, and powerful people 
of the United States, and bring over its brotherly aid to the cause of your country, so intimately 
connected with European liberty;' and here I stand to plead the cause of the solidarity of human 
rights before the great Republic of the United States. * * 

" Having thus expounded my aim, I beg leave to state that I came not to your glorious shores 
to enjoy a happy rest — I came not with t he intention to gather triumphs of personal distinc- 
tion, but because an humble petitioner, in my country's name, as its freely chosen constitu- 
tional chief, humbly to entreat your generous aid; and then it is to this aim that I will devote 
every moment of my time with the more assiduity, the more restlessness, as every moment 
may bring a report of events which may call me to hasten to my place on the battle-field, where 
the fjrent, and I hope the last battle will be fought between Liberty and Despotism, — a moment 
marked by the finger of God to be so near, that every hour of delay of your generous aid may 
prove fatally disastrous to oppressed humanity." 

This language leaves no room for conjecture. His object is to secure the 
armed assistance of England and the United States. And now let us inquire 
for what purpose that assistance is sought ? To establish liberty in Hungary? 



No ; but the supremacy of the Magyar race. The exiles who have come among 
us have probably imbibed, and have certainly proclaimed, republican sentiments; 
but who believes that such sentiments have found a home in the bosom of the 
Hungarian people ? It has been their boast for ages that they constituted the 
firmest prop of the Austrian throne. It is a well-known historical fact that they 
have clung to their institutions with a tenacity even beyond that with which the 
Mohammedan clings to the Koran. It is those who have remained at home, 
constituting the vast majority of the population, who must give character to the 
institutions a successful revolt may enable them to establish; and who doubts 
they will return to that constitution and form of government for which they have 
manifested so decided a preference? Our aid, then, if given at all, will not be 
given to a republic but to a monarchy. 

The Senator from Mississippi [Mr. Foote] tells us that we ought not to 
shrink with alarm at the idea of a controversy with Russia. I have seen no 
manifestation of any great apprehension on the part of any one here. But it 
by no means follows that, because we do not happen to feel any great alarm at 
the idea of that controversy with Russia, we should provoke that controversy. 
It by no means follows that because we are not afraid of Russia, we should go 
to war with Russia. She has a right to the same courtesy at our hands that 
other nations have. She has a right not to be insulted. If this resolution 
should be adopted, under all the attending circumstances, and the Emperor of 
Russia has the feelings of a man, he must believe — he will believe — that we 
have offered him an unnecessary and causeless insult. To demonstrations on 
the part of the people he has no right to object; but acting in our official capa- 
city, we ought to be cautious how we do things calculated to disturb our friendly 
relations with foreign Powers; and, above all, we should refrain from giving 
our public approbation to an individual who has told us openly before landing 
on our shores — who tells us now — that his object is to agitate — to excite enmity 
against a nation with whom we are on terms of amity; who tells us, further, 
that his object will not be accomplished unless he can obtain from the Govern- 
ment of the United States a sanction and approval of his mission. When the 
news reached Governor Kossuth that the resolution introduced by the Senator 
from Mississippi had been withdrawn, he saw proper to become highly offended, 
and assumed to deliver a lecture to a Philadelphia committee upon the conduct 
of Congress. Listen to his reply to that committee, and then judge how for 
we can now be justified in inviting him here: 

"Kossuth said he was extremely rejoiced at this demonstration on the part of Philadelphia, 
and that he felt the highest gratification in being thus honored by the glorious corporation of 
that renowned city. Before he left Europe, one of the pleasures he had promised himself was 
to meet and mingle with the citizens of that great city where the Declaration of Independence 
had been proclaimed; and he felt now particularly anxious to visit the hallowed spot where 
that immortal charter had been adopted. But he went on to say, that at the present moment 
it was quite impossible for him to declare at what time he could go there, and that, indeed, it 
Was not certain that he could go there at all. His object in visitng this country was not a per- 
sonal one — he did not come to promote any selfish purpose, and he could not, therefore, do 
anything that was calculated merely to gratify himself. His object was to promote the great 
cause of liberty throughout the world, and especially in Hungary; and while he was sure the 
people of the United States sympathized in that object, he could not but say that he was deeply 
distressed at the action which had been taken by (one branch of) Congress. He had the high- 
est respect and regard for Congress — he recognized it as the exponent of the national will, and 
in view of what it had done, his own movements were necessarily embarrassed. Whether he 
would be content to go beyond New York he could not now say; but he was free to declare 
that had the proceedings in Congress, to which he had adverted, reached him before he left Eu- 
rope, he would have hesitated about coming to this country at all. 

"The reason why I say this, is, that though I am fully aware of the circumstance that in the 
United States it is the public opinion of the people which decides in the last instance on public 



8 

ftflfkifS) and though I must confess that I have received here in New York such a manifestation 
Of the sympathy of the people as gives me hope and consolation, still I regard myself invited to 
this country by an act of Congress, initiated in the Senate. Now, had I known that in the same 
place where 1 was invited, the same body Would now decline to bid me Welcome, I Would have 
thought that I Was not a welcome guest; eo much the more as the President of the United States 
has formally invited the Congress in his message to consider what steps are to be taken to 
recicve the man for whom he has sent a frigate to Asia, complying with the will of the same 
body in which now a resolution of no further political tendency— the simple resolution to bid 
We a Welcome— was withdrawn on account of an unexpected opposition. Under such circum- 
stances I would not have wished to intrude. 

"And as it was, with the utmost gratitude to all who bestowed on him such marks of kind- 
ness as the city of Philadelphia had offered, ;ind especially with sentiments of sincere regard 
for Philadelphia and its citizens, he must defer for a day or two any positive reply to the re- 
quest which had been made to him." 

Had the proceedings of Congress reached Kossuth before he left Europe he 
would have hesitated to come to this country. And why? Was there any- 
thing in those proceedings disrespectful to him? Was there a solitary remark 
made by any Senator on this floor which was not in the highest degree eulogis- 
tic of him and his character? Was there not everything in the proceedings of 
that day to gratify his personal vanity? Certainly; and there must have been 
some other cause why he would have failed to come to America if he had 
known what was to transpire. He would not have come here because those 
proceedings taught him that he could not succeed in engaging the Govern- 
ment of the United States in a war with any foreign Power, and as his mission 
here looked to that result, and that only. As he sought no personal sympathy, 
no personal protection, he would have directed his steps to some quarter 
where the prospect of obtaining armed aid for Hungary was more cheering. 
Sir, I protest against this intervention with the domestic concerns of other 
nations. I protest against this resolution, because it commits us in some degree 
to the wild schemes of an enthusiast; it sanctions the arrogance which rejects 
the home we offered, and demands as a right that we should offer in exchange 
the blood and the treasure of our popple. 



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